Our final stop on the most amazing tour was the building housing most of the to-scale mockups for training on the ISS, shuttle, soyuz, Orion, and any number of other craft. The room was like the convention floor of a civic center or large basketball arena. A glass catwalk around the top allowed viewing by the regular tour, but as typical, we were right down in the middle of it all. Heck, our tour guide was an astronaut. (Nothing halfway for NASA tweetups.)
We called it a day and could have headed home if we wished, but there was an ‘after party’ at Chelsea’s Wine Bar. That and Boondoggle’s next door seem to be local NASA hangouts, as I was told there was a table of astronauts and mission control personnel at Boondoggle’s. So, if you’re vacationing in the area and want to increase your chances of meeting the famous, now you know where to eat. I heard Frenchie’s is also a hangout.
But we had our own astronaut, mission controller, and a facilities manager at our dinner, so I wasn’t jealous.
